GREAT — Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training

Results in brief

Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training

Improving the control of the properties of lasers has led to their rapid commercial adoption, through high-value manufacturing in the automotive and consumer electronics markets, in digital communications for increased bandwidth, to medical applications with enhanced biological imaging and surgical techniques. The overall research objectives of GREAT are to conceive and produce Grating Waveguide Structure GWS which are responding to the end-users’ needs and products. Another overarching objective of this Innovative Training Network was to provide a balanced portfolio of skills development to a cohort of fifteen early-stage researchers (ESRs). These ESRs were trained under three main target areas: firstly, specific expertise, which underpinned their PhD project work and research; secondly, additional scientific training, covering the entire fabrication chain from design to implementation of GWS devices; and lastly, complementary skills that included communications and entrepreneurial training. A key outcome of the project has been that 15 newly trained people have been prepared for future careers in the highly technical field of precision photonics. In a time where it is increasingly difficult to find qualified people capable of doing highly skilled work in this field, either in industry or academia, this is a major achievement for the GREAT ITN and the MSCA scheme in general. These skilled ESRs have already started finding their places in premiere academic and industrial institutions across the globe.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union

Project objective

The overall aim of the GREAT (Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training) project is to train a cohort of 15ESRs through the completion of interconnected individual projects which will deliver innovative approaches for developmentand use of Grating Waveguide Structures (GWS), from design to implementation in several laser systems. GWS results fromthe combination of sub-wavelength gratings and planar waveguides. This combination results, by means of an appropriatedesign of the overall GWS, in resonances which can be used for many applications that are more efficient than currentgrating-only devices. The young will be trained to work collaboratively to deliver systems and solutions responding to realworld problems. This is crucial since there is an overall lack of qualified specialized personnel in this field, with a limitednumber of companies active worldwide. Crucially, this lack of skilled workforce has been identified by the ETP Photonics21(Photonics21 (2013) Towards 2020 – Photonics driving economic growth in Europe-Multiannual Strategic Roadmap 2014 –2020) as a major challenge for the photonics community. Moreover, GREAT gathers Photonics, Micro-Nano technologies,Advanced materials as well as Nanotechnologies which are among the Key technologies defined within the H2020 projectfor the competitiveness and renewal of European manufacturing. Lasers are also defined as an important industrial sector,where the European Community is a key player which aims to keep its competitive position (http://www.strategies-u.com/lasers-photonics.html). Therefore, GREAT will provide important modelling methods and fabrication tools that allow thedevelopment of GWS to consolidate and expand their use in several applications in the laser field like pulse compression,spectral stabilization and wavelength multiplexing, as well as polarization shaping (generation of beams with radial and azimuthal polarization

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART · StuttgartCoordinatorGermany
AMPLITUDE · PessacFrance
CENTRE TECHNOLOGIQUE ALPHANOV · TalenceFrance
DILAS DIODENLASER GMBH · MainzGermany
ECOLE CENTRALE DE MARSEILLE EGIM · Marseille Cedex 13France
FIBERCRYST SAS · Decines CharpieuFrance
GESELLSCHAFT FUR ANGEWANDTE MIKRO UND OPTOELEKTRONIK MIT BESCHRANKTERHAFTUNG AMO GMBH · AachenGermany
ITA-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO · KUOPIOFinland
MODUS RESEARCH AND INNOVATION LIMITED · DUNDEEUnited Kingdom
NOVAE · AIXE-SUR-VIENNEFrance
RHEINISCH-WESTFAELISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN · AachenGermany
TRUMPF LASER GMBH · SCHRAMBERGGermany
UNIVERSITE DE BORDEAUX · BordeauxFrance
UNIVERSITE JEAN MONNET · Saint EtienneFrance
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON · SOUTHAMPTONUnited Kingdom

GREAT · Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training

Results in brief

Grating Reflectors Enabled laser Applications and Training

Project objective

Participants

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